Dragonslayer
by oleanderedits
Summary: Carol tells a story about Daryl saving Glenn from a dragon to help pass the time. (30DayOTP Prompt Challenge Day 9)


"Remember that time you did... that thing and..." Glenn slurred, pushing his head into Daryl's stomach in a way that wasn't entirely unpleasant. The kid was half alseep and seemed to think he was trying really hard to stay awake by making conversation while the rest of him got comfortable. "That was pretty cool, right?"

Of course Daryl had no idea which something Glenn was talking about. Or what thing happened. In the year since the world went to shit, the two of them had been through a lot together. The whole group had, really. But Daryl liked to think of him and Glenn as a unit. A pair. A set that shouldn't be divided.

It was stupid to think that way with Glenn and Maggie making eyes at each other and doing more, besides. They might have had something, once, but Glenn had made his choice and Daryl wasn't going to push away any of his family over what-if's. Hell, it was more Daryl's fault than Glenn's. He'd pushed the kid away at the CDC, drunk and still hurting too much about Merle. Couldn't really blame Glenn for moving on. It would only make his heart hurt if he dwelled on it.

Maybe Daryl had a thing for pain, though, because he kept doing it. Especially when Glenn got the way he was, stuck half-way between wakefulness and dreams. He always liked to get himself cozied up to someone. Whoever was closest.

Daryl tried to make sure it was Maggie so things didn't get awkward between them. But some times, like tonight, he made sure it was him instead. Tried to play it off as the room being too small to make a fuss. He felt he was doing a decent job since Maggie moved to curl herself up against Glenn's other side without giving him any strange looks. Heck, no one was giving him any odd looks at this point. Maybe they were just too tired. Or maybe they honestly didn't care. They were all family, right?

"What thing?" Maggie murmured, wrapping her arm around Glenn's waist and drawing his attention enough that he draped his arm over her shoulder and let it hang along her side.

The kid gave a soft, 'mmm, you know', that was barely audible before he yawned, "That time Daryl saved me from the dragon."

Daryl was not the only one to turn their head and give Glenn a 'what the fuck' look before bursting out into giggles. He rubbed his face, "Think you're dreaming again. Go to sleep."

"Not dreaming," Glenn protested, head rubbing harder into Daryl's belly as he shook it.

Maggie snorted and patted her boyfriend on the chest, "Tell us about, then."

Glenn yawned again, just a little more awake now, smiling down at her while his free hand traced lazy lines up and down the hem of Daryl's torn jeans. He rolled his head so he could look up at Daryl, giving him that same smile. His brows knitted after a moment, tired eyes looking confused, "You remember, right? Back when you joined us at the quarry. You and Merle were there a couple days before I headed back into the city. The rock fall, remember?"

"Yeah," Daryl grinned, staring down at him. "I remember the rock fall."

Glenn echoed that grin, shutting his eyes before he continued sleepily, "Yeah. That. The dragon woke up and made all those rocks fall and you pushed me out of the way. We tumbled down that hill together. The dragon followed us, but you got up and stood in front of me. You stopped it from eating me. Just stared it down. That was pretty cool."

The wall next to them on the walk toward the highway had given out. Not surprising on an old quarry road, really. Daryl acted before he could think and threw himself at Glenn, pulled him off the side of the road and they'd rolled a good quarter mile with boulders tumbling down after them, breaking trees as they went. It was dumb luck that they'd survived long enough for Daryl to get off Glenn, stand up and try to get his bearings.

Daryl had told Glenn it was a dragon, though. He'd said it off-handed, sarcastic. Told him to be more careful so he didn't wake any more and get the rest of them in trouble. Kid had to know it was a joke. But with as tired as he was, he supposed it wasn't surprising Glenn was mixing the truth and reality up in his mind. It was amusing all the same.

"Nah," Daryl laughed, shaking his head and looking around the group shyly, "I didn't stare it down. I cursed it out. You was just out of it, couldn't hear it."

That got him another round of soft laughter. Everyone kept it pretty quiet because of the walkers outside they were waiting out. But the mood was good and the short story seemed to be inspiring it to stay that way.

Carol decided to make the story a little bigger. Entertain them all. "You're both selling yourselves short. I'm certain it was far more suspenseful than that. I imagine the royal messenger there helped bring the dragon down, in his own way."

"Royal messenger?" Rick asked, turning to look at Carol with a raised brow.

"Of course!" Carol giggled, sitting up straighter and smoothing her shirt to get herself in the right mindset as she folded her hands on her lap. "Now, how should this start? Oh, of course! Once upon a time..."

…

 _There was a small kingdom in the mountains hugged on all sides by lands held by monsters. It was a dangerous land, but the kingdom held it's own. They had many great warriors to protect them and the bravest of messengers to bring them news of the world outside their borders._

 _One such messenger was Glenn. He was the most trusted for he was fast, smart, and loyal. He often left for missions that would take him into the heart of the wilds to bring back much-needed trade goods and all in the kingdom loved him._

 _The one who loved him the most, however, was a hunter named Daryl._

…

"What? Why I gotta be in love with him?"

"It's a story, Daryl. All the best stories have a romance."

"But-"

"You're the knight, he's the maiden"

"He ain't no damsel in distress!"

"Let her finish, Daryl. We all know it's just a story."

…

 _Daryl was not yet a knight of the realm, for he had never asked to take the trials. But many recognized that he was one of the best men with a weapon and had the kind of honor that was often sung of in legends. He was a quiet man who watched Glenn from afar._

 _He kept his love secret. No one knew. Even Glenn, for whom he pined._

…

"I do not pine."

"Shhhh!"

…

 _Daryl would follow Glenn into the wilderness when the messenger was sent out on his important missions. Just for a little while. Just long enough to make sure he got to the old Imperial Highway that once connected their kingdom to far greater ones before they fell._

 _Usually there was no danger. Glenn knew his route and knew it well. He ran it every few days and little ever changed. The monsters of the world rarely climbed so high._

 _But no one is lucky forever._

 _Glenn was jogging down the far mountain road when the wind shifted and his scent was taken to a dragon who slept-_

…

"The wind didn't shift. We was just walking too close to the edge."

"You were walking together?"

"...I did that sometimes."

…

 _Daryl had decided to brave his own fear of rejection and approached Glenn that day to share the road with him. They talked at length and laughed and it was sadly their laughter that carried too far. A dragon slept just off the road and usually Glenn walked so quietly that it never woke. But Daryl had made the man laugh and his laughter was so beautiful and light, the dragon awoke coveting Glenn's laughter as it would the brightest of jewels._

 _It shook the ground as it spread it's wings. The rocks of the mountain were moved and started downward toward the road. Glenn was fast enough he could have outrun it. And Daryl knew the land well enough he could have hidden and waited out the rockfall. But the two of them didn't know how the other would react and they sought to save the other._

 _Daryl grabbed Glenn around the waist to try and pull him into a cave. Glenn grabbed Daryl's arm to try and pull him into running with him. They got tangled up in each other and instead tumbled down the slope on the other side of the road._

 _Down, down, down they rolled! Boulders and trees and the dragon itself crashing down after them. All either of them had to anchor their senses were each other and so they clinged all the more tightly as every hard crash threatened to tear them from each other's arms._

 _When they finally came to a stop, they were out of breath. Tired and sore. They didn't know about the dragon yet. They only knew about the rock slide. And for a moment they lay there, wrapped up in each other, breathing their relief and mingling breaths with how close they were._

…

"No no no no no no... We didn't lay against each other like that," Glenn interrupted, somehow way more awake now.

Daryl has his arm crossed, though he had yet to shove Glenn away, and hissed at him, "Shut up, Glenn."

"Daryl was on top of me," Glenn went on, ignoring him. He brought his arms up to semi-cover his head, "And I was doing this thing, where I was-"

"I thought you were gonna sleep," Daryl snapped, voice rising to an angry growl as he grew even more uncomfortable.

Glenn might not be sleepy anymore, but he wasn't exactly picking up on signals as he continued to argue, "She's telling a good story."

"She made you the girl," Daryl muttered and hoped that would distract him. "And was probably gonna make us kiss."

No such luck, though, because Glenn just went out and blurted the one thing Daryl had hoped to keep between them, "Yeah, but you're a good kisser, so that's okay."

The amused looks that been given them through the small fight gave way under slowly dropped mouths that only a few bothered to cover up. Wide eyes stared at them from all directions and Daryl felt his blood run cold. He couldn't even hide himself by getting up and going outside. There was no where to go but into the mouths of the walkers they were waiting out in the storage shed. The most he could hope for was that everyone would leave it the hell alone and not bring it up again. Glenn especially.

Glenn had the decency to blush a bright red and put his hands over his face as he muttered a soft, 'sorry.'

"Wait," Maggie sat up, one hand in the air, "You two kissed? You two..." Her cheeks puffed out and she slapped Glenn's arm hard, "You said you weren't seeing anyone."

"Ow! I wasn't!" Glenn jerked his arm out of her immediate reach. "Daryl and I were never together! We just fooled around a little! We haven't touched each other since before Merle got left."

Maggie's eyes narrowed and she continued to glare at Glenn for a few moments longer. Then she huffed and all the fight went out of her. She put her hand on Glenn's arm and rubbed it as something in the line of an apology. Then she sighed and laid herself back down, "Okay. That's fine, then. Just... if you two ever want some alone time to talk or whatever, you let me know first."

"Nothing to talk about," Daryl grunted softly. Yeah, it still hurt some, and he wished things could be different, but Glenn was happy with the girl. He could be happy for him. For them. It might have been the end of the world, but he wasn't selfish enough to break the family apart with what-ifs. And Maggie didn't need to offer to let them.

Maggie lifted her head to look up at him and smile knowingly at him. Like she now had something she could share with him. And maybe she did. He still cared about Glenn, after all. He looked away, chewing on his thumb, and shrugged.

The group went quiet after that, settled in for the night and tried to shake off the awkwardness by being quiet. No one else mentioned it again. Carol kept her stories to other topics. But after a couple weeks Daryl noticed that somehow Glenn ended up sleeping wedged between him and Maggie every time they had the room and time to sleep a little more properly. And sometimes, in his sleep, Glenn's arm would wrap itself around Daryl, instead.


End file.
